Xi and his San tribe[a] are living happily in the Kalahari Desert, away from industrial civilization.

One day, a glass Coca-

Cola bottle is thrown out of an airplane by a pilot and falls to the ground unbroken. Initially, Xi's people assume the
bottle to be a gift from their gods, just as they believe plants and animals are, and find many uses for it. Unlike other
bounties, however, there is only one glass bottle, which causes unforeseen conflict within the tribe. As a result, Xi,
wearing only a loincloth, decides to make a pilgrimage to the edge of the world and dispose of the divisive object.

Along the way, Xi encounters biologist Andrew Steyn, who is studying the manure of wildlife; Steyn's assistant and
mechanic, M'pudi; Kate Thompson, a woman who quit her job as a journalist in Johannesburg to become a village school
teacher; and eventually a band of guerrillas led by Sam Boga, who are being pursued by government troops after a failed
assassination attempt. In a fictitious town called Biryani, northwest of Botswana, Boga's men kill three cabinet members
and injure two others in an attempt on the president's life, sending the military in hot pursuit.

Steyn is tasked with bringing Thompson to the village where she will teach, but he is awkward and clumsy around her.
Their Land Rover stalls while trying to ford a deep river; he hoists it out with a winch, but it continues lifting the vehicle
to a very high treetop level while a forgetful Steyn is distracted extricating Thompson from a briar bush. She more than
once mistakes his attempts to evade wild animals, and putting out an evening campfire, as advances towards her.
Eventually, a snobbish safari tour guide named Jack Hind arrives, and takes Thompson the rest of the way to the village.

One day, Xi happens upon a herd of goats, and shoots one with a tranquilizer arrow, planning to eat it. He is arrested
and sentenced to jail. M'pudi, who once lived with the San and can speak the San language, is discontent with the
verdict. He and Steyn arrange to hire Xi as a tracker for the remainder of his sentence in lieu of prison time, and teach Xi
how to drive Steyn's Land Rover. Meanwhile, the guerrillas invade Thompson's school, taking her and the students as
hostages as they make their escape to a neighbouring country.

Steyn, M'pudi and Xi, immersed in their fieldwork, find that they are along the terrorists' and children's path, and
observe their movements with a telescope. They manage to immobilize six of the eight guerrillas using makeshift
tranquilizer darts launched by Xi with a miniature bow, allowing Thompson and the children to confiscate the guerillas'
firearms. Steyn and M'pudi apprehend the remaining two guerrillas by frightening one with a snake and by shooting at a
tree above the other, causing latex to drip from the tree and irritate his skin. Jack Hind arrives and takes Thompson and
the children away, taking credit for the rescue that Steyn, M'pudi and Xi had actually planned and executed.

Later, with Xi's term over, Steyn pays his wages and sends him on his way. Xi has never seen paper money (banknotes)
before, and throws them on the ground. Steyn and M'pudi then drive from their camp to visit Thompson, where Steyn
attempts to explain his tendency to be uncoordinated in her presence, but accidentally and repeatedly knocks over a
number of objects in the process. Thompson finds his efforts endearing, and kisses Steyn.

Xi eventually arrives at God's Window, the top of a cliff with a solid layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape
below. Convinced that he has reached the edge of the world, he throws the bottle off the cliff, and returns to his family.